Thursday, July 17, 2008

Fotrait is a new entry category here in Foblow, capturing portraits of people with stories to tell (and in this case cannot tell).

Eli Gonzales is mum about details of Project Runway Philippines, the reality TV show in which he is one of the 14 finalists. So we talked about him as a designer as we took photos around Greenbelt 5.

Eli has been in retail fashion design for quite sometime, having worked with brands such as Lee, Lulu Castagnette, Plains & Prints, Sari-sari and My Barong. This young and outgoing designer especially admires Filipino-named brands and cannot imagine leaving the country for a permanent or long term basis. In fact, he believes in being a "fresh, fun-loving and Filipino" designer."For me, it's a great compliment to know that people are still wearing my designs even if they're already three years old!" tells Eli. His works have been consistently feminine and wearable with a delightfully unexpected detail or interpretation of a particular inspiration. When asked what a woman should feel when wearing a design of his, with spunk he answered, "fashion orgasm."Now, that's something to talk about. :)

Word around is that Eli made the show bigger than reality, sure enough to rake in ratings. Will he win Project Runway? Will he win the hearts of Filipino viewers (and buyers) and be a runaway success?